


Another World

by Omega2199 (Louloubelle21)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: All the angst in my 12 year old soul, But also parent feels! And step parent feels!, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, I'm talking some straight up Jake/Will otp if you know what I mean ;))), Nico & Katie are super minor, but also this was written in a time in fanon before rick had fleshed out any of the minor characters, so their personalities were largely fan driven!, sorry tag wranglers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-07
Updated: 2014-03-16
Packaged: 2019-10-09 06:56:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17402147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Louloubelle21/pseuds/Omega2199
Summary: Paul had seen quite a few strange things since dating Sally Jackson. But this one, this one took the cake. It gave him a whole new look on life, and often made him feel as if he'd stepped into a whole new world. This is Paul's POV all throughout the battle of Olympus including before, during, and after. 5 shot (maybe 4 shot) and rated T for fighting scenes and angst.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey folks! I wrote this way back when in 2012, and posted it to ff.net July 7th 2013. The chapters are short, but I decided to preserve it's OG formatting in the crosspost. Enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \--  
> Alright, 3rd fic! This takes place during the last Olympian, and will probably be a three-shot, maybe a four-shot. I think I might start doing a few Paul stories, but maybe not. Let me know what you think please! (First chapter is short, I apologize)
> 
> Paul POV

 

Paul had been through quite a few strange things since dating Sally Jackson.

He saw Pegasus hooves dented into his car, he woke up to a wall of fur that was apparently a very large dog, heck, he even woke up one morning to see Percy jumping out the window of their 7 story apartment building. (That had almost given him a heart attack, luckily Sally very quickly explained that there  _was_  indeed the very same Pegasus that had left the dents in his car, flying below.)

But this one, this one took the cake. It gave him a whole new look on life, and often made him feel as if he'd stepped into a whole new world. And a scary world at that.

He was walking home from Central park with Sally, when all of a sudden, Sally gasped. He whipped around (Being the stepfather to a demigod made you learn to always expect the worst, as he had quickly learned) to see her staring up at the sky. Following her gaze, he gasped as well.

There were bright blue lights darting through the sky, seemingly heading towards the Empire State building.

In the middle of the day.

He groaned as Sally grabbed his arm, running to where they parked his Prius, a block away. This practically  _screamed_  Percy. As they reached his Prius, he pulled out his keys and tossed them to her, knowing she was in protective mother mode now, and that  _nothing_ would stop her now.

As he got in the passenger's seat, the car gunned forward, causing him to grab onto the seat as he rushed to close the door.

"Sally?" He asked hesitantly as she screeched around a corner, just missing several pedestrians.

"Yes Paul?" She said tightly as she ran through a yellow light, her eyes not once leaving the road, her hands gripped the steering wheel as if her life depended on it.

"Do you think you might want to slow down just a little bit? We aren't going to be much help to Percy if we're pulled over by the NYPD." I said in a gentle voice, as I watched the speedometer inch past 95mph.  _In down town New York._

"Pau-" She never got to finish her sentence, because at that moment her eyes widened, and she took a sharp left, stopping the car by the curb.

"Sally, wha-" And I never got to finish my sentence either, I was already asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original AN: Alright, that's just about it. Told you it was short: P I've got the second chapter just finishing up my editing process, so hopefully it will be updated soon.
> 
> R&R Please?


	2. Chapter 2

When he woke up, the first he thing noticed was Sally. She was shaking him roughly, apparently trying to wake him up.

"What is it Sally?" He said groggily, noticing a couple of things as he said it.

One, This was not his and Sally bedroom, Two, neither was this where Sally had parked the car earlier, in her dash to get to the Empire State building, and Three, the car was surrounded by people.

Now at first, these people looked completely normal, business men and women the likes of what you'd see every day. But when you looked a bit closer (Which in itself was difficult) you could see certain irregularities about them. In fact, Paul could swear he had just seen that woman pick up a crossbow, and did that man have fangs?

Sally seemed to notice he was awake, and she stopped shaking him, instead starting to open her door, prompting Paul to reach for his own door handle.

Once out of the Car, Sally's Eyes seemed to immediately zero in on the base of the empire state building, but no matter how hard he tried, Paul couldn't seem to follow her gaze.

Sally yanked on his hand, pulling him over so he could hear her, "Percy's in there, he's in danger"

The moment he heard her say those 6 little words his blood froze. For what seemed like years but was probably only a split second images lashed through his eyes. Running, but not being fast enough, watching the life drain out of his step son (who he had come to think of as his real son) 's eyes, holding a crying Sally at a funeral. And then it was over, and they were running, running towards where he knew the Empire state building was, yet he seemed unable to focus on anything but the woman holding his hand.

And then he heard a voice pierce the sounds of muffled grunts and sighs. A man's voice, roaring one word. "ATTACK!"

And with that word 5th avenue exploded into absolute chaos.

 

* * *

 

 

As they ran he glimpsed things that made him shudder.

There were children fighting against what looked like adults (Sally had explained the mist to him long ago, and he could only assume they were enemies.) but couldn't possibly be.

Legions of shimmering warriors started to rise from the ground, attacking the monsters. And if he focused carefully on them, he could see them flickering, sometimes looking like huge thugs, other times looking like zombies and skeletons.

With a flash of light a whole battalion of monster's turned into a field of wheat and with another, a squad of women who looked strongly like secretaries turned into flowers.

But they ran through it all. Sally guiding him when to duck, side step, and jump over way too sharp weapons.

Then, without warning, Sally stopped beside a police car, near the barrier, and looked at him helplessly.

"I can't get through." She said before glancing over at her son, helplessness turning into anger. "I can't get through to him Paul!"

She looked back at him, with desperation in her eyes, and he said the single most crazy thing that he'd said yet.

"Then I guess we'll have to fight." He said briskly before turning around and reaching down to a fallen boy, who looked about 14, before closing the boys eyes and taking his sword. "Sorry." He whispered as he gripped the sword in his hands.

When he turned back to Sally, she had a grateful smile on her face. "Dear god's I love you." She said before she spun around on her heel, pausing briefly as she smashed open the window, unlocked the door of the police car, and started rooting around for something. What she was looking for, he didn't know, but he trusted it to be something helpful.

So he spun himself around, and engaged a women with scales for skin in a sword fight, slashing and blocking, before he disarmed her, all of this taking about a minute.

"Paul?" He heard from somewhere beyond the border. It was Percy. He grinned, and took a guess on where to look based on the voice before replying.

"I hope that was a monster I just killed. I was a Shakespearian actor in college! Picked up a little swordplay!"

Paul then ducked down to narrowly avoid a oncoming spear before hearing something that chilled him to the bone.

"Mom!" It was Percy, and the tone of voice he used implied danger. Whirling around, he turned just in time to see Sally pump the crank of a shot gun before firing at some kind of giant, blowing it backwards about twenty feet right onto Nico's sword.

Huh. Paul thought with a start, before coming back to his senses. Who would have thought that Nico was a demigod too?


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey Paul." Nico said as he wiped the dust of the giant from his sword.

Paul almost couldn't believe it, the depressed little kid who had appeared at their house twice (Once for cake via the fire escape, then again for Percy to get blessed) was a demigod too! He never really thought about it; just assumed the pale scrawny boy was no fighter, let alone a soldier in a war!

But Nico was looking totally at home as he jumped behind Paul to slash at what looked like a giant dog that was sneaking up behind him.

And now Paul was fighting as well.

 

* * *

 

It was madness; 5th street was a mess of flailing limbs, sirens, and yelling. He had been fighting back to back with Nico for a while, before the battle whirled them off into separate directions. Now, he was slashing his way through a battalion of what, to him, looked like impeccably dressed business women, but the girl fighting beside him assured him that they were actually a type of minster called Scythian Dracaena.

The girl he was currently fighting alongside appeared to be one of the leaders of her group, she had long brown hair braided down her back and dark green eyes. She looked about 15, maybe 16. Her face was covered in blood and sweat and her armour looked like it had seen better times. But still, she fought.

He had to admire her for that.

In between parries and thrusts, he learned that her name was Katie Gardner, and that she was head counsellor of the Demeter cabin, a fact that she backed up soon after when she dropped her sword and raised her hands to the sky, causing a giant vine shot out of the ground, flailing around and grabbing monsters and enemy demi-gods before launching them into the air.

"Whoa." He said in awe, as he watched a huge dog be thrown so high, he lost sight of it. It was moments like this that truly made him feel as if he was not entirely welcome, in this new world.

"Yeah," She gasped as she whirled around to stab an enemy demigod sneaking past the plant. "I won't be able to pull a stunt like that again, not for a couple of hours at least."

"Why not?" He asked as parried a thrust and stepped to the side to dodge an enemy half-blood's sword.

"When demigods use their powers, it drains them. The bigger the stunt, the more energy it takes." She explained as she grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling him back as he watched an arrow cut through the now empty space of where he had been standing moment ago.

"Oh. Thanks." He replied, as he ducked underneath what looked like a janitor swinging a mop at him, but then again, he couldn't really be sure of that, could he?

"Don't mention it," She said casually as she paused for a moment to catch her breath, before yelling; "Demeter cabin! Retreat!" As she was swept away into the battle.

It was, however, when a little boy who seemed to be about 12 years old became his fighting partner for the moment that he realized just how messed up this world that he had stumbled into truly was.

This child he was fighting beside, with his blond hair matted with knots, and his blue eye gleaming with a mixture of hurt, hatred, betrayal, and disgust had bruised marring his cheek bones, and the CAMP HALF BLOOD t-shirt he was wearing was so dirty and torn, Paul could barely read it.

"Hey," He said, as the boy deflected a spear that would have hit him dead on, "How old are you?"

"11" Came the sullen reply as the child ducked under the legs of an enemy, turned around and stabbed her in the back. "Why?"

Now Paul was at loss for answers. He was 11? Not even in middle school and already forced to kill his enemies.

"Just wondering, hey, d-" Paul started, his question stopped in its tracks. The boy was gone. When Paul looked around for that tell-tale dirty blonde hair, he found nothing, until...

"Oh no." Was all Paul could say as he gagged, tears burning at the corners of his eyes. "No, no no no no!" Because beside him now, clear as day, was the still corpse of the blond-headed boy.

He had been stabbed through the chest by a throwing knife, and the look on his face was one much too serious and scary for a child his age. Paul closed the boy's eyes, before wiping away his tears and turning towards the battle with even more determination in his heart than before.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: 4th part, takes place after the battle

  
While Paul waited with Sally for Percy, he came to a realization as he watched the demigods clean away all of the major signs and damage of the fight. He realized new things entirely about this seemingly mythical world.

He realized that this new world was a scary, bloody, and unjust one. A world where powerful beings forced their children to fight for them, just because of their parentage. A world where little boys and girls just like the boy with the blond hair died every day, with resentment in their hearts.

And rightfully so, Paul thought, as he watched the demigods cart off their dead, tears streaming down all but a few faces. And the faces that weren't marred by tears were stony, and cut off. They moved robotically, as if all they wanted was to curl up and cry, but yet were forcing themselves to be strong.

Paul shook his head, _this is ridiculous_ was all he could think. These are _kids_ and they've just fought a _war_ and they're too scarred to even cry.

Not one of them looked over twenty, and they were forced to carry their sisters, brothers and loved ones dead bodies over to the vans so that they could be carted off to camp to be prepared for burning.

And where were the gods?

Yes, where were the immortal, all powerful beings, responsible for this mess? Were they down here, on the streets, comforting dying friends?

Or trying to carry off dead siblings without breaking down in tears?

Or going around, from fallen warrior to fallen warrior, as he watched one little girl, who couldn't have been older than 8 do, to pry their weapons from still warm, lifeless, and often bloody hands? So that future generations of halfbloods could use them, to fight this same battle?

No, the gods were up on Olympus, safe and sound, probably already arguing pettishly about what rewards to dole out to their heroes.

And what about the heroes down here, he thought.

What about the kids who gave their all in the fight, who fought and fought and were prepared to die but just because they weren't commanders, because they were too young, or even simply because the gods only wanted to shine the spotlight on some of them. On the demigods who were children of the big gods, the demigods whose parents decided to bring them forward.

Oh yes, Sally and Percy had told him all about the gods, and their favoritism.

And what was the reward for these heroes?

What will happen to the hard workers, who are carting away their dead?

What rewards will the heroes who are scrambling around, desperately trying to manipulate the mist to fix the damages left by the war, have?

Or the heroes who helped by moving mortals away from harm during the battle?

Or the medics who, though they were too valuable to risk in battle, without which this entire war would not have gone on?

Or the heroes, who fought and fought for Olympus, for their friends. And they fought so hard that in the end, they gave it their all.

They died unnamed, and unremembered, just like the little blonde boy. What happened to them? Who would honour them? Those who died without ending a battle, who simply didn't dodge far enough to avoid that one enemy spear, or fought one monster too many, until their luck ran out. What would happen to their memory?

Paul shook his head as Sally pulled him inside the Empire State building, before now, he knew that this world was dangerous. He and Sally worried about Percy constantly.

But somehow, amidst the flying horses, and strawberry fields, somehow Paul had missed this hurt. This resentment. Somehow Paul hadn't seen the neglected look in the demigod's eyes. The look of being 17 years old, of knowing you were a demigod for 6 years, but also knowing that your parent didn't care enough to claim you. The knowing that at any moment, you could die. Knowing that this applied to all of your friends and loved ones as well. Knowing that no mere mortal could possibly understand all you've been through and that you still have to put up with their teasing and ridicule regardless.

Paul had gone to teachers college; he knew enough child psychology to know that it wouldn't take long in these conditions before anyone would feel unloved and unwanted.

He couldn't even guess the emotional trauma all of these demigods were going through. He himself had tried not to kill any enemy half-bloods, but he hadn't been fighting for days on end, and he knew that the demigods who he fought with had been fighting so long, they had become desperate enough to kill.

It made him sick.

Sally was yelling at the security guard again, she'd been going off and on with him but Paul figured she need to. She needed to yell at someone.

He knew the feeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks very much for the read! I believe I intended to post a fifth chapter, but things got a bit intense, life-wise. Story of our lives, amiright?


End file.
